It grows wild in Finland as far north as 62° lat. on the west coast ; and the northern limit of the species as a tree extends from Lake Ladoga, through Central Russia, where it is, with birch and aspen, the commonest deciduous tree, to Orenburg, where it reaches, but does not cross the Ural, in lat. 54°. To the north of this limit it is often met with as a shrub in the pine forests, and has been found even on the west coast of Onega Bay. Southward it grows in the Crimea, and is common in the Caucasus, at 2000 to 6000 feet altitude, extending into Armenia and North Persia.
It is common throughout Germany, especially in the north, where it grows mainly in the plains, valleys, and low hills; and extends southwards through Austria and the Balkan States to Epirus. It occurs in Northern Italy. In Switzerland’ the tree is only met with in the lower part of the beech forests, ascending to about 3300 feet. In France it is spread throughout the forests of the low hills and mountains, as far south as the Cevennes, Auvergne, and the Central Pyrenees, where it crosses into Northern Spain.
The Norway maple is not a native of the British Isles, where it has not yet been found in the fossil state.
It always grows in company with other trees, never forming pure forest, and generally solitary or in small groups. It is often associated with the sycamore, and like it thrives best on soils rich in soluble mineral matter. It does not ascend in mountainous regions as high as the sycamore; but succeeds better than that species in wet situations. It bears a great degree of cold and is entirely unaffected by late frosts.
Mistletoe’ is occasionally found on the Norway maple.(A.H.)
Cultivation
Though the tree has been known in England for a very long period—Loudon says it was introduced in 1683—and is one of the hardiest trees in cultivation, it is seldom seen of any size, and is not nearly so commonly planted as it deserves to be. It will grow on the driest and poorest soil, and on my own land there are many trees over 50 feet high by 6 to 7 feet in girth which have not been planted more than fifty years.
It ripens seed abundantly almost every year, and is as easy to raise as the sycamore, and though it does not attain nearly the size and age of that tree, is far more ornamental both in spring, when covered with pale-yellow flowers, before the leaves come out, and in autumn when they turn a brilliant red or yellow colour.
Remarkable Trees
The largest tree of this maple that we know of in England is not far from the stables at Cassiobury Park, the seat of the Earl of Essex, and measures over 90 feet, perhaps as much as 95 feet high, by 13 feet 9 inches in girth. But it is not
1 Christ, Flore de la Suisse, 181 (1907).
2 Cf. Gard. Chron. xxxix. 238 (1906).
